


Sugar Sounds Nice But Snails Are Fascinating

by orphan_account



Series: Sugar Benefactor [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Bigender Armin Arlert, Demi Armin Arlert, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Low-key Romance, Podcast, Trans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 04:09:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6223255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Armin Arlert is a boy. Armin Arlert is a girl. </p><p>A tale of bigender Armin Arlert and friends. </p><p>Can easily be read alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sugar Sounds Nice But Snails Are Fascinating

**Author's Note:**

> Tbh I am a HUGE sucker for bigender Armin and for Armin/Mikasa and there is like none of either. I live a sad life.

What really bothers Armin about all of this is that, despite all of his logic, this doesn't make sense to him.

He knows plenty, knows a lot, really, but none of it does him any good, not when it comes to a conclusion on this topic.

He's currently unsure if he's being beaten up for the book he was reading (because that's actually a thing that happens in this town, being beaten up for _reading,_ maybe because it's a thick book and he's young, maybe because they're jealous, maybe because of that missing piece of the equation that bugs him so much) or because he's wearing a skirt.

Because apparently there's something wrong with that, too. His parents never thought so, his grandfather still doesn't think so, but he gets such odd looks for it.

It's a piece of clothing. Why is he being beaten up over a piece of clothing?

The common excuse is that it's "for girls" which still doesn't make sense to Armin because he kind of is a girl, and he still is not convinced that anyone is 100% any gender.

So here he is, getting punched and kicked, but still forcing fire into his eyes because no matter what they do, _they will not break him._

And then something changes.

"Hey!" A voice cries. "Leave them alone!"

Another kid runs up from who knows where to stand directly behind Armin's tormentors, who turn to look at what they no doubt perceive as new meat.

"Are you gonna stop us, you little brat?" One of them asks.

"Yeah, I am." The kid says. "You don't get to beat people up for no good reason."

"We're beating this little bitch up because he thinks he's a girl," Anothersays, and Armin really just wants to sigh. He knows that he should be more concerned about the possible damages to his body, but honestly. He doesn't think he's a girl. He kind of _is_ a girl, but that is so utterly and completely not the point here. Idiots.

Though at least he knows why he's being beaten up, now.

"So what?" The kid challenges, getting very much into the face of the one who'd said it.

"So..." The moron splutters. "That's screwed up!"

"No, it isn't." The kid says, jaw set.

Armin likes this kid. Stubborn, but open-minded enough to not care at all when told that Armin believes himself a girl (still wrong, but still not the point). And there's fire in the kid's eyes, fire that Armin loves because of how brightly he imagines it can burn.

And there's something about this, something about a person who comes to the defense of another that seems so right to Armin, so wonderful, like something from storybooks he still loves, even if he knows they aren't real.

The kid gets their ass handed to them, which Armin finds to be predictable, if unfortunate. The bullies leave after that, though, with a bit less swagger to their step, or so Armin likes to think.

"Armin Arlert," Armin says, holding out a hand to the kid, both of them still on the ground.

"Eren Jaeger!" The kid replies, way too chipper for someone who just got beat up. Perhaps this is a regular occurrence for Eren. Well, if nothing else, that's something to bond over.

"So," Eren says, pulling Armin to his feet (apparently unaffected by the hits to his body, if the way he sprang up is any indicator). "Are you a girl?"

"Not exactly." Armin says.

"Okay," Eren says. "Because if you're a girl, I don't think my mom would let us have sleepovers without a talk with your parents, and grown-up talks are so _boring_."

Armin disagrees with this. He finds grown-up talks to be interesting, and they don't care if he's around, because he understands more than they think he does so they'll say things they might not otherwise. It's a doorway to understanding, but he knows not everyone sees it this way, so he doesn't really hold it against Eren.

"My parents are travelling." Armin says. "And they don't mind that I'm not exactly a girl. Neither does my grandpa. He takes care of me while my parents travel. I've never had a sleepover before."

"Do you want to have one?" Eren asks, uncaring that Armin's sort of rambling, which Armin is grateful for.

"I'm not sure." Armin says. "I just met you."

Eren mulls this over briefly.

"Okay." Eren says. "Want to play, then?"

"Alright," Armin says.

* * *

 

When Armin first meets Mikasa, he's nervous. It isn't because she's intimidating (though she is) or that he thinks she'll hurt him (she could), it's that Armin only has one friend.

It turns out, though, that only having one friend is another thing that two people can bond over, much like being beaten up frequently.

And then they can't bond over it anymore, because they both have two friends, now.

Armin is happy with the trio that they are, especially after the first time Mikasa sees her in a skirt.

She had come to their house to fetch them to play outside, and Mikasa had answered the door. She'd looked her up and down and then gestured for her to follow. They'd gone to her room, where she'd pulled out a knee-length blue skirt from a drawer.

"I don't wear it." She says. "Do you want it?"

Armin smiles and thanks her. She nods in return and graces Armin with one of her small smiles.

Armin knows that she's gotten lucky with these two, Eren and Mikasa, and she thinks that he wouldn't give them up with the world.

She also thinks she wouldn't have to, that the three of them could conquer the world if the desire struck them. There's satisfaction to that thought. 

* * *

 It's Mikasa's idea for the three of them to get an apartment together in college. It's a perfect idea, the three of them living together, because it works. They've known each other for so long, of course it works, they already have each other's routines memorized in the subconscious.

When Jean learns that the three of them are living together, he gives them something of a side-eye, then glances over to Annie and Bertholdt and Reiner.

Armin shakes his head. Eren and Mikasa are siblings, he explains, or maybe.

And then it's a few years later and Armin can say no for other reasons. Mikasa is still Mikasa and Armin still has little interest in relationships, though he sees the appeal, but Eren has found something.

And Armin can understand Levi better than he assumed he would, so it all works out, really.

* * *

 The podcast is an indulgence, at first. It takes Armin a bit of doing to write it because writing is harder than she expected, which is a real surprise. She thought that it would come to her much easier, but there's plot to be concerned about, and not revealing too much too soon.

It's fantastic, this challenge, and Armin adores it.

When she asks Eren to read it aloud to her, something clicks and suddenly, everything makes so much more sense, and she knows exactly what she needs to write next. She ends up using Eren this way quite a bit, sitting in on his recording sessions and sometimes stopping him to change something, which he doesn't mind at all.

And then when Armin gets Mikasa to voice some of it, it's _even better_  than when Eren did it, and she knows so much, now, knows some of how this could even end and she's so excited she nearly kisses Mikasa.

Which is. Something to file away, she supposes, because she's got nothing else in that moment.

Regardless, the podcast is brilliant, a wonderful challenge, and Armin finds herself getting more and more dedicated to it, even going so far as to include other people in their friend group and predict a few things before they happen.

What can she says, she's invested in her friends and in the way that human minds work, and she has a certain attachment to human relationships that just so happens to come out in this podcast.

Marco thanks her, anyway, so it's all fine.

* * *

 

"I'm sure that Eren just fell asleep. It's not like they're even dating yet, Mikasa."

Armin regrets that statement when Mikasa whips her head around and has a spark of...something in her eyes, something that actually scares Armin a bit, just like the first time they met.

But Armin is not the same as when they met, and Armin knows Mikasa so much better.

"Mikasa, it's a yet and you know it. Don't try controlling Eren's life. He doesn't want that, anyway, and Levi is decent. Predictable, too." Armin says, and Mikasa actually does back down a bit.

"I know." She says, quietly. "I dislike that man, but I know Eren isn't a complete idiot."

"Well," Armin says. "I didn't say that."

"We could still save him." Mikasa says, so simply, and Armin will give her that one. If Mikasa's definition of a complete idiot is someone beyond saving, then Eren is far from it.

"Of course." Armin says. Mikasa seems content enough, for now. 

* * *

 

Eren's gone again, this time meaning to stay the whole night at Levi's on purpose. Mikasa is trying rather hard to be okay with this, which Armin is fully willing to give her props for.

An hour or so after Eren leaves, Armin is left feeling slightly shaky and really, really inarticulate.

"So, Mikasa."

Great way to start, Armin. Really excellent job.

"Yes, Armin?" She looks up from the book she's reading on the couch, and maybe, maybe, Armin's breath goes a bit off.

"I was thinking that, since Eren's gone and it's just a quiet night, maybe the two of us could go out to eat?" Armin asks, really rather terrified.

Mikasa is quiet for a moment, just looking at Armin.

"Yes," She says, finally. "That sounds nice." 

* * *

 

Dating Mikasa totally doesn't suck at all, which is about the highest praise that Armin thought he'd be willing to give any sort of dating experience.

But the thing about Mikasa is that she gets it, she gets that he both is and isn't always in love, and she's just fine with that. She's always there, and she teaches him, slow and steady, that she loves him differently than she loves Eren but just as much.

And it works.

And Eren totally freaks out, which is honestly funny, so there's another bonus.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos are Good Comments are GREAT pennamepersona.tumblr.com
> 
> [Buy me a coffee!](https://ko-fi.com/A375K8Q)


End file.
